France v South Africa – in depth

France take on South Africa in Paris in the second of their Autumn Internationals. But what’s the history of the two teams? And who’s likely to win this time round?

France v South Africa – head to head

These sides have met 42 times in the past with South Africa leading the head to head with 25 wins to 11, and 6 draws. South Africa have won the last 5 meetings between the two, but France have won 4 out of the last 5 in France. Our model says this will be the tightest of the matches played this weekend, with the latest predictions giving a 20-20 draw.

Previous matches between the two

Their first ever meeting came in 1913, with South Africa winning 38-5, a even more comprehensive victory when you consider only 3 points were awarded for a try back then. South Africa dominated the fixture up until the 2000s with France only recording 5 victories, and fairly close ones at that. However, since 2000 the contest has been very evenly matched, South Africa just holding favour with 7 wins to France’s 6.

Rankings at previous matches throughout history

France haven’t beaten South Africa this decade, with their last win coming in 2009. As can been seen from the rankings, both teams have somewhat been in decline in the past few years, but luckily for us (or unluckily from a predictive point of view) the current situation is very evenly matched.

The match is predicted to be a draw however, given the recent form of the two teams, we think this one is more likely to end up with a South African win.